In the dental field, it is known to carry out the preliminary planning of a treatment aimed, for example, at regenerating bone and periodontal tissues, at the manufacture and at the fitting of dental implants and prostheses, at performing reconstructive operations of a conservative type, at achieving a more effective masticatory occlusion and dynamics or, simply, a better structural and/or aesthetic conformation of a patient.
Planning methods are known that comprise the acquisition of one or more images relating to the site to be treated and the subsequent processing of the images acquired by means of dedicated software of the CAD-CAM (Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing) type implemented on a computer.
With particular reference to the manufacture of dental prostheses, the image is first of all acquired of the area where the prosthesis is to be fitted and, if necessary, of the teeth adjacent and/or antagonist to this area.
The image of the prosthesis fitting site can be determined, for example, by means of digital photography, computerised tomography (CT), electronic scanning of a plaster model obtained starting from an impression of the patient's dental arch or using other different methods.
The dedicated software programs process such acquired image, if necessary supplementing such data with others provided at input and determine a virtual model of the prosthesis to be made.
The virtual model thus determined can afterwards be used to make the prosthesis by means of semi-automated or automated processes such as, for example, rapid prototyping processes or, alternatively, processes that comprise the use of a modelling unit, of the type of a milling unit or the like, to obtain the dental prosthesis starting from a block of material.
These known methods, however, are not without drawbacks and, in particular, they do not allow accurate preparation of the area where the dental treatment is to be fitted before the installation of the prosthesis itself.
In fact, the preparation of the fitting area is done manually by the health operator, on the basis of the indications provided during the planning phase and comprises, for example, the installation of osteointegrated implants and/or the machining of one or more teeth suitable for supporting the dental prosthesis.
The result therefore is a substantially imprecise preparation or, in any case, a preparation not totally in conformity with whatever is defined in the planning phase.
Another drawback of the known methods is that of not allowing a preliminary evaluation of the impact of a dental treatment on a patient's appearance.
Such known methods, in fact, though permitting a preventive analysis of a qualitative functional type on the result of the dental treatment, do not however permit an analysis of the possible effects on the appearance of the patient's face. The patient is not therefore in a position to totally assess the effects of the treatment and the health operator is not, if necessary, able to change the parameters of the treatment itself to upgrade aesthetic aspects.